Qantas Removes Erroneous Award Fees On El Al Flights! Here Are The Current Fees And The Bargain Infant Fees Between The US And Israel!

DansDeals will receive compensation if you are approved for a credit card via a link in this post. Terms apply to American Express benefits and offers, visit americanexpress.com to learn more.

Update:Several DDF members have received a refund of the extra taxes paid by sending an SMS to Qantas at 1-478-772-6827. One reader said that they were only able to secure the refund after sending Qantas a link to this post 😀

Post your experience in the comments and be prepared to HUCA (Hang up, chat again 😉 )

I’ve mentioned a few times though that Qantas has been adding a small tax onto premium cabin award tickets that should not be charged on award tickets.

When you purchase a paid one-way ticket from Newark to Tel Aviv, there are 4 fees owed as shown below on the tax breakdown for a paid flight:

However on an award ticket you should only be responsible for the 9/11 fee of $5.60 and the Israel Security surcharge of $4. Qantas has been erroneously charging the $18.60 US departure tax as well and that fee should not apply on award tickets.

On the return you should be responsible for the Israel departure tax of $26.81, the Israel Security fee of $4, the US immigration fee of $7, the US Customs fee of $5.77, and the US APHIS fee of $3.96, for a total of $47.54. Qantas has been erroneously charging the $18.60 US arrivals tax as well and that fee should not apply on award tickets.

Qantas has been charging $94.34 round-trip for premium cabin tickets between the US and Israel, but they have now correctly removed the $18.60 each way US departure and arrivals tax, so the new price is $57.14/ticket on a round-trip:

Qantas is also incredible for infant tickets as they only charge $24.73 tax for a lap child round-trip between the US and Tel Aviv. Other airlines charge 10% of the miles or 10% of the regular fare for lap children!

Only need a one-way ticket?

You’ll pay $9.60 from the US to Israel:

The infant charge from US to Israel only adds $4!

A one-way ticket from Israel to the US will be charged £37.20 (Currently $47.24):

The infant charge from Israel to the US adds £16.20 (Currently $20.57):

If you already paid the $18.60 fee, you can try contacting Qantas for a refund. If that doesn’t work you can technically file a DoT complaint, but personally I’d advise against rocking the boat too much here…

With the 44% bonus for AMEX transfers you can fly one-way from the US to Israel for just 26,250 points in economy, 43,750 points for premium economy, or 54,167 points for business class plus $9.60 in taxes. The return flight has the same mileage requirement, but has $47.24 in taxes.

That’s a fraction of the miles (AMEX points transfer to El Al at a 50:1 ratio) and the $348.84 in fuel surcharges and fees that you would need for a round-trip with El Al Matmid points:

Want to earn Qantas points?

You can transfer AMEX Or Citi points to Qantas at a 1:1 ratio, Barclays points at a 1.4:1 ratio, Capital One points at a 2:1.5 ratio, or Marriott points to Qantas at a 60K:25K ratio.

No annual fee, up to 15K points welcome bonus, earn between 1.2-2.4 points per dollar everywhere with 20+ monthly transactions.

Barclaysdoesn’t currently offer any cards to new customers with transferable points. If you have a discontinued Arrival Premier card you can transfer points.

Capital One cards with transferable points to Qantas include:

The Capital One® Spark® Miles for Business offering 50,000 miles for spending $4,500 in 3 months and 2 miles per dollar spent. Get free Global Entry/Pre-Check Membership. $95 annual fee waived for the first year.

The Citi Rewards+ Card offering 15,000 points for spending $1,000 in 3 months. This card can’t transfer points on its own, but can transfer points if you have one of the Citi cards above. This card automatically rounds up rewards earned on every purchase to the nearest 10 points, meaning you earn 10 points on a $0.50 Amazon balance reload. Earn 2 points on $6K in annual spending at supermarkets, 0% intro APR on purchases and balance transfers for 15 months, and a 10% points rebate when you redeem points, up to a 10K points rebate per year. If you also have a Citi Premier Card you can transfer points into miles or get a 25% added value for paid airfare, plus get a 10% points rebate on transferred or redeemed miles. No annual fee.

Leave a Reply

61 Comments On "Qantas Removes Erroneous Award Fees On El Al Flights! Here Are The Current Fees And The Bargain Infant Fees Between The US And Israel!"

All opinions expressed below are user generated and the opinions aren’t provided, reviewed or endorsed by any advertiser or DansDeals.

Notify of new replies to this comment

Notify of new replies to this comment

Sort by:
newest |
oldest

malky

according to my understanding when reading your posts los angeles even with the crazy sale is not much cheaper thenusing aeroplan or united?

Reply

June 25, 2019 4:13 pm

Dan

The advantage of this is that El Al has MUCH better nonstop availability than Air Canada/United.

Reply

June 25, 2019 4:15 pm

malky

thank you and of course the availability opens and reopens like uniteds.

Reply

June 25, 2019 4:26 pm

K

United or AeroPlan both are not direct flights from LAX to TLV. also availability for the 85k roundtrip super saver is limited in my experience. IMO the lack of stopovers is worth it by itself for me to book with qantas even if it was slightly more expensive

Reply

June 25, 2019 4:26 pm

G

I paid 42,000 points each way for a booking last week. It was literally as the system was switching over (our wed evening, their thurs morning). I tried getting back the difference but had no luck. Any suggestions?

Reply

June 25, 2019 4:15 pm

Dan

Did you try cancelling within 24 hours?

Reply

June 25, 2019 4:19 pm

G

They wanted to charge me 6,000 points a ticket to cancel and then there was no guarantee of when id get the points back to re-book or if the tickets would still be available. Plus, the return sold out right when i booked it.

Reply

June 25, 2019 4:39 pm

Dan

Within 24 hours you could have pushed for that to be free, or filed a DoT complaint.

But if it was sold out then there’s not must to do. No guarantees that it would go back into award inventory.

Reply

June 25, 2019 4:39 pm

chff

“US airlines also don’t collect the $4 Israel Security surcharge, though Qantas still collects that.”
— The Israeli AP fee is only paid for Israeli airlines – not charged for foreign airlines

Reply

June 25, 2019 4:17 pm

Dan

Ha, thanks!

Reply

June 25, 2019 4:19 pm

Avi

Are they issuing refunds for past booked tickets?

Reply

June 25, 2019 4:17 pm

Dan

Contact them and find out.

Reply

June 25, 2019 4:18 pm

el

is it a bad idea to dispute that amount off the cc charge?

Reply

June 25, 2019 4:18 pm

Dan

Very bad idea.

Reply

June 25, 2019 4:18 pm

el

can you elaborate more on this?

Reply

June 25, 2019 4:24 pm

Dan

I wrote 2 options in the post about what to do if you want a refund. Disputing a ticket can lead to the cancellation of the ticket or your mileage account.

Reply

June 25, 2019 4:26 pm

el

thank you. will try reaching out to them via sms

Reply

June 25, 2019 4:32 pm

Mahyar

Can’t decide whether to pull the trigger on transferring Amex points or waiting to accumulate some Citi TY points and using those in conjunction with a future transfer bonus. Just seems like Amex points are so much more valuable than citi so hate to use them

Reply

June 25, 2019 4:22 pm

Edward Parver

I was able to transfer 130000 Amex membership rewards to Qantas. In a few hours it was in my Qantas frequent flyer account. I had to pay 74 English pounds. I got 2 one way business class tickets on ELAL TLV-JFK. This was done yesterday 6-24 How do I figure if I paid that erroneous fee. Thanks

Reply

June 25, 2019 4:32 pm

genius

You where not charged that extra $18.60 fee per passenger because that fee was already fixed 2 days ago. The 74 Pound sterling equals
93.91 United States Dollar, which is the $47 charge per pass. charge from tlv to nyc.

Reply

June 25, 2019 4:54 pm

chff

I got charged the US tax on 3 bookings done Sunday 11:59PM

Reply

June 25, 2019 8:03 pm

Edward Parver

Thanks for the explaination

Reply

June 26, 2019 9:11 am

Eli

You got charged the correct amount. I have same booking as you (booked this past Sunday) I paid 102 pounds.

Reply

June 25, 2019 5:27 pm

chff

I got charged the US tax on 3 bookings done Sunday 11:59PM. Th correct amount for a one-way TLV>NYC should have been about 37.40£

Reply

June 25, 2019 8:05 pm

CtownBin

Can you add a free domestic connection on American Airlines onto these tickets, so that you can fly from cities not served by ElAl?

Reply

June 25, 2019 4:49 pm

Yoel

While I agree with Dan that Qantas points are very good to redeem with El Al flights, they are ridiculously overpriced (surcharge) to UK, why is American & BA ripping off partners when redeeming awards? Can’t they just be like Al El?

Reply

June 25, 2019 4:52 pm

el

are AF flights bookable yet with qantas?

Reply

June 25, 2019 5:06 pm

HY

Which part is ending after a week meaning if I transferred the points and my good?

Reply

June 25, 2019 5:10 pm

Dan

You are good (until premium cabin award rates go up on 9/18).

Reply

June 25, 2019 5:32 pm

Moe

Is it worth transferring points now , if I don’t plan on going to Israel for next 6 months ?
Any idea if this promotion will come back around ?
Thanks

Reply

June 25, 2019 5:26 pm

Dan

I doubt we’ll see 44% again.
When do you plan on going next?

Reply

June 25, 2019 5:32 pm

Moe

Yeah I think it’s worth transferring for that type of promotion.
Don’t think I will be able to go before January.
Once I transfer to my Qantas account can I use the points for other family members or only for myself?

Thanks

Reply

June 25, 2019 5:38 pm

Dan

I’d definitely transfer for any travel plans within the next year or so, sure.

You can book for family members and yourself.

Reply

June 25, 2019 5:40 pm

Jimbo

Had 500k amex points, just transferred and now have 648k showing in Qantas.
(I only want to use my points flying to IL)
When booking ElAl on Qantas, will I get the option to choose the seats?

Reply

June 25, 2019 5:29 pm

Dan

You’ll get the rest of the bonus within a few days.
You can call El Al to select seats.

Reply

June 25, 2019 5:33 pm

Yidel

Will Qantas have this transfer bonus special again? And what about Virgin Atlantic?

Reply

June 25, 2019 7:03 pm

Dan

Unlikely.
They currently have a 25% bonus.

Reply

June 25, 2019 9:17 pm

Glushtygiz

Is it possible to add infant to j booking a week b4 flight

Reply

June 25, 2019 8:03 pm

Dan

Yes.

Reply

June 25, 2019 9:17 pm

Yossi

1)Do I need to book the award travel by 6/30 or just have the points transfered by then?
Also because it takes a two days for the credit to post do I need to have the points transferred by the 28th?
2)what other credit card points do you reccomend transferring to amex membership rewards to make the most out of this promotion

no need to file dot.
text and they will take care of it. when you call the recording gives you an option for sms. they answer you within minutes and they will take care of it. i just did it this morning and i even recieved a new email from them with my booking and the credit

Reply

June 26, 2019 4:44 pm

lindnuck

What did you say to get them to refund? I tried sending this link, and she said she can’t click on links. I cut/paste the relevant portions and explained it to her, and she said she had no ability to do anything and I should call instead.

Reply

June 26, 2019 8:26 pm

lindnuck

Just got this resolved via SMS. I wrote: “Hello, I was erroneously charged a US entry tax on an award booking. This is only supposed to be charged on cash fares. My reservation information is XXXX. I would like a refund of the $18.60 erroneously charged.”

They responded and said “I can confirm that an issue has been identified where customers booking LY Classic Rewards were incorrectly charged the US Departure/Arrival Tax.” They then processed a refund.

Reply

June 27, 2019 5:31 pm

yed

Does anyone know what the extension would be for using gmail to send them the text message ?

Reply

June 26, 2019 6:52 pm

eli

@Dan
I transferred a small amount of MR and got 44% bonus w/in 24 hrs
Then I transferred a much larger amount and only got the 20%
Are you sure I will get the additional 20% – as its been approx. 2 days already- did Qantas confirm that its a true double bonus?
Thanks!

Reply

June 27, 2019 10:26 am

William Fried

Hi, newbie here. I just transferred points to quantas. I would like to book business or first class but they don’t show up as available on Quantas website.On ElAl and google flights websites they are showing up. What would be the best way to get the business or first class seats? TIA

Never miss a deal - Follow us @DansDeals

Daily Email Digest

Receive a roundup of deals, dead or alive, that were posted in the past 24 hours. Use SMS/Twitter for instant deal alerts.

I consent to my submitted data being collected via this form*

Thank you for subscribing.

Something went wrong.

Please do not post unique articles, pictures, or deals found on this site elsewhere without explicit prior written consent.

Advertiser Disclosure: Many of the links that appear on this site are from companies from which DansDeals.com receives compensation. Dan’s Deals LLC is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Many of the credit card offers that appear on this site are from credit card companies from which DansDeals.com receives compensation if you are approved. Compensation impacts banner placement, but does not impact the articles posted on DansDeals.com. This site does not include all credit card offers available in the marketplace. Credit card companies that we have an advertising relationship with include but are not limited to: American Express, Bank of America, Barclays, Capital One, Chase, Citibank, Discover, HSBC, and Wells Fargo.

Editorial Note: This content is not provided or commissioned by the credit card issuer. Opinions expressed here are author’s alone, not those of the credit card issuer, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the credit card issuer. These responses are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser’s responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.

ABOUT US

Dan and JJ work around the clock to bring you the best deals on the web, including bargains on household items, electronics, flight deals, miles, credit card rewards, and more.